At-risk Camden venue The Black Heart ‘ecstatic’ after crowdfunder raises £36k in 48 hours

UPDATE - 04/03/21: The crowdfunder for The Black Heart is now almost at the £100k mark - but if it doesn't raise another £50k by March 23, it will have to close. Donate here: crowdfunder.co.uk/savetheblackheart

Owners of Camden gig venue The Black Heart are “absolutely ecstatic” after a crowdfunder to secure its future generated more than £36,000 in less than two days.

The popular boozer, which is a pillar of the heavy music scene in London, put out the appeal earlier this week with a warning that it was in “serious trouble” and needed “to raise at least £100,000 by the end of March 2021 or it could be over”.

The people behind the venue — which has hosted the likes of Idles, Lightning Bolt and Every Time I Die in the past — said they had been given “zero help from the Government or our landlords” during the pandemic.

The crowdfunder has so far been met with an “incredible response”, owners said, with more than 1,300 people donating money to the campaign. The venue tweeted: “This is exactly why we will keep fighting, to continue to be here for you the same way you are here for us.”

A variety of rewards for those who pledge their support are currently on offer — from poster bundles and a new amplifier, from the chance to win a £200 beer tab at the venue once it reopens.

Grassroots music venues are among the many cultural institutions currently struggling through the pandemic. Almost 90 per cent of grassroots venues in the UK were successful in securing financial support from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund, although this money was only intended to last until March.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has since confirmed that those who received funding can now spend it up until the end of June, rather than pay back any excess to the Government, as was previously agreed.

Donate to the Black Heart’s crowdfunder here.

Read More

Inside the fight to revive Crobar, Soho’s beloved heavy-metal hangout